I am hoping we can persuade Anton to come out of retirement and produce and update to Cacko, if we can come up with a realistic list of things that would be a genuine step forwards.

So, please consider responding with a feature or update item, preferably with a pointer to the source/resources required. If people can offer information as to any updates and new packages that Sharp produced that Cacko doesn't have, or even standard gnu/linux packages that need updating due to security fixes etc.

the realistic things are: 2.4 kernel as is, basic libraries (glibc, etc) as is; a couple update (mainly due to security reasons) on the rootfs (basic tools), and some update (feature based) on the user-space programs.

I'd like a fully functionnal support for Wifi cards and WPA intergrated as it is the norm today and my wifi is always messy-behaving.This is reason why I never actually really use my Z.

An update of Gaim to the latest Pidgin if possible.A simplier setup of foreign languages (like a one package install of the korean language) such as european and asian languages.

1. you need to specify which card you are using, its manfid (from cardctl) and as much information as possible.

2. I agree, a tool to enable WPA for a particular access point would be nice, as well as a simple WPA PSK editor. I have occasionally thought it'd be quite easy to write a simple command-line driven one.

To clarify, Sharp violated the GPL and did not release full sources to their hacked kernel. If you changed to 2.6 EABI none of the sharp code would run, thereby defeating the point of Cacko as you might as well use OpenZaurus or Angstrom with Opie!

Also, the version of qtopia is proprietary version 1.5, it just happens that you can use version 1.7 for developing s/w.

To clarify, Sharp violated the GPL and did not release full sources to their hacked kernel. If you changed to 2.6 EABI none of the sharp code would run, thereby defeating the point of Cacko as you might as well use OpenZaurus or Angstrom with Opie!

I'd like a fully functionnal support for Wifi cards and WPA intergrated as it is the norm today and my wifi is always messy-behaving.This is reason why I never actually really use my Z.

I am hoping something like this can be implemented for an easy to use WPA settings ap.Here's a thread to WPA-GUI in the Sharp forum.http://www.oesf.org/forum/index.php?showto...&hl=wpa+guiI downloaded the *.tgz, but wasn't certain what I needed to do to make it work. Does it need compiled? Or is it just unfinished?

make the main file system use squashfs.. it's more efficient on space, but this cannot be remounted as writable like the existing cramfs. ... so...use unionfs simply overlay a read/write file system (which could be on SD or CF card) onto the rootfs. this also means that you can easily recover from breaking the system by removing the overlay

To clarify, Sharp violated the GPL and did not release full sources to their hacked kernel. If you changed to 2.6 EABI none of the sharp code would run, thereby defeating the point of Cacko as you might as well use OpenZaurus or Angstrom with Opie!

Also, the version of qtopia is proprietary version 1.5, it just happens that you can use version 1.7 for developing s/w.

Sorry, I have to call BS on this one. Sharp did NOT violate the GPL. They haven't been as generous as they could have been, but you can get the full sources of the kernel and their patches to the GPL-ed code from the Japanese Sharp site[1]. What they did not release was the proprietary code for things such as SD drivers. As they most probably have to sign non-disclosure agreements to get their hands on the SD driver code it is not surprising that they never released it.

What we don't have access to is the source code that makes up the rest of the ROM, but as you have mentioned they use a proprietary version of qtopia 1.5 and what software that they taken from GPL code they give the source code for [2],[3]. I know for a fact that Sharp Japan takes GPL violation seriously as I have met with a number of the people who worked there when I lived in Japan. Sharp may not be as free with their code as we might like, but you will find that they have stuck to the letter of the GPL - if not the intent. There are a number of modules or applications that some people think are GPLed but as yet I have heard of no solid evidence that this is the case and even a thread on lists.gpl-violations didn't give a definitive answer [4].

I have written to Sharp Japan previously when they hadn't posted the kernel source for the 860 after what I thought was a reasonable time and although they came up with a face saving excuse, I think it was a case of somebody forgot to post rather than anything else. If you think I'm wrong on any of my points, please let me know as I'm a firm believer in the GPL and feel that it must be enforced when it's being violated.